I have the Vantec Spectrum Card Fan and the 120mm Stealth.
From what I can tell, Vantec definitely don't make their motors as smooth as other quiet fans.
The Card Fan suffers from extreme pulse wave modulation whining.
I have my 120mm Stealth spinning at 950RPM (thanks to the resistor that came with my Zalman 92mm fan), and it is noisier than my Antec fans (1 Stock Sonata and 1 Pro Series w/ FAN ONLY connector). Those two fans are spinning at about 1100 RPM. The Stealth's noise is mainly motor noise. It definitely is not as smooth and clean sounding as the Antecs.
I have my hands on a Nexus 92mm fan, good fan, very smooth and really, the only noised produced is the airflow it generates. nice and solid. Better than a 92mm Zalman fan in quiet mode.
So I wouldn't recommend Vantec fans for quiet freaks. Even if you do have a fan controller, it's the "extraneous" noise outside of the RPM that really gets to you.
now, the loudest thing in my case is my VGA Silencer Rev3, which is set on High. Can't believe I just said that, my next option in silence is to put it on Low, but I'm not prepared to do that. Guess this is my optimal silence I can get.
On a side note, Arctic Cooling makes excellent 80mm fans. I hope they make a 120mm fan soon.
From what I can tell, Vantec definitely don't make their motors as smooth as other quiet fans.
The Card Fan suffers from extreme pulse wave modulation whining.
I have my 120mm Stealth spinning at 950RPM (thanks to the resistor that came with my Zalman 92mm fan), and it is noisier than my Antec fans (1 Stock Sonata and 1 Pro Series w/ FAN ONLY connector). Those two fans are spinning at about 1100 RPM. The Stealth's noise is mainly motor noise. It definitely is not as smooth and clean sounding as the Antecs.
I have my hands on a Nexus 92mm fan, good fan, very smooth and really, the only noised produced is the airflow it generates. nice and solid. Better than a 92mm Zalman fan in quiet mode.
So I wouldn't recommend Vantec fans for quiet freaks. Even if you do have a fan controller, it's the "extraneous" noise outside of the RPM that really gets to you.
now, the loudest thing in my case is my VGA Silencer Rev3, which is set on High. Can't believe I just said that, my next option in silence is to put it on Low, but I'm not prepared to do that. Guess this is my optimal silence I can get.
On a side note, Arctic Cooling makes excellent 80mm fans. I hope they make a 120mm fan soon.
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